K1 trip to north west

[Batdude]

Came back a few days ago and had a blast in Portland and Seattle. Lot's of things to do there and plenty of great places to take photos, unfortunately is impossible to cover everything

IQ as always is not disappointing, AF behavior I did get lots of weird looking photos with that look as if I shook the camera a lot when in fact I shot at over 1/500 of a second. I am having a really hard time when shooting outdoors and the AF is indeed very unreliable. For some strange reason I don't have this kind of problems when doing my photoshoots indoor with spot lights. If shooting outdoors I have to make sure I shoot many photos of the same thing if I want to come home with a good photo, and the problem is not back/front focusing. This AF is just plain weird and unpleasant and cannot be trusted. Hope the K1II fixes this issues.

But, when the AF works the pictures are very very nice

 

[Batdude]

A few more:

 

[zakaria]

Nice series .

The B&W mood is very pleasant.

 

[Regor250]

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

 

[Batdude]

Nice series .

The B&W mood is very pleasant.

 

[Batdude]

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

 

[KPM2]

Hello Batdude

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

 

[Florida Suse]

Hello Batdude,

I saw your post re: a K1 and had to look at it because I will be getting one soon so I like to read and look at everyone's posts to learn and get ready and excited

First, I would like to say that the images you posted are absolutely amazing! For me to get images like that with the k5 I have to do a certain amount of post processing and then sharpen a couple of times lol. But I can understand how frustrating it might be to get a few duds that you can't figure out why they happened .

Many years ago, I had something happening on one of my cameras that had something to do with the flash and the sync speed (too long ago to remember) but, I couldn't figure it out and I thought something was wrong with the camera. While I still had it on warranty , I sent it to Pentax with the camera, flash and lens. Then I wrote a note about it detailing the behavior and put a few images on a CD and shipped it back. In just a couple of weeks my camera was back, and checked out from head to toe and what was wrong was something that I had been doing wrong but, my mind had been put at ease.

I think if I were in your shoes, and I will be soon! Lol, I would send it in to be looked at while still on warranty. I don't know if you have a lens that causes this behavior more than another, maybe it's the same lens maybe it's a couple but you can send it with the camera and a good description and samples and let the experts take a look at it, and you never know maybe they may see something they can adjust or calibrate that makes a big difference. It will at least put your mind at ease and it will not cost you anything else other than the shipping.

Sorry I can't offer more technical advice, I come here to learn from others also but I really feel your genuine frustration and you are at a perfect time to have it looked over because you just bought it recently and have full warranty so if it was me, I would take full advantage of that.

Best luck with all this, I hope you get it figured out I really think you love the images and camera, it may just be a matter of learning curve with this system and ruling out if there is anything going on with front, back focus or anything else that may be easily corrected.

Suse

 

[Batdude]

Hello Batdude,

I saw your post re: a K1 and had to look at it because I will be getting one soon so I like to read and look at everyone's posts to learn and get ready and excited

First, I would like to say that the images you posted are absolutely amazing! For me to get images like that with the k5 I have to do a certain amount of post processing and then sharpen a couple of times lol. But I can understand how frustrating it might be to get a few duds that you can't figure out why they happened .

Many years ago, I had something happening on one of my cameras that had something to do with the flash and the sync speed (too long ago to remember) but, I couldn't figure it out and I thought something was wrong with the camera. While I still had it on warranty , I sent it to Pentax with the camera, flash and lens. Then I wrote a note about it detailing the behavior and put a few images on a CD and shipped it back. In just a couple of weeks my camera was back, and checked out from head to toe and what was wrong was something that I had been doing wrong but, my mind had been put at ease.

I think if I were in your shoes, and I will be soon! Lol, I would send it in to be looked at while still on warranty. I don't know if you have a lens that causes this behavior more than another, maybe it's the same lens maybe it's a couple but you can send it with the camera and a good description and samples and let the experts take a look at it, and you never know maybe they may see something they can adjust or calibrate that makes a big difference. It will at least put your mind at ease and it will not cost you anything else other than the shipping.

Sorry I can't offer more technical advice, I come here to learn from others also but I really feel your genuine frustration and you are at a perfect time to have it looked over because you just bought it recently and have full warranty so if it was me, I would take full advantage of that.

Best luck with all this, I hope you get it figured out I really think you love the images and camera, it may just be a matter of learning curve with this system and ruling out if there is anything going on with front, back focus or anything else that may be easily corrected.

Suse

Hi Suse and thank you so much for your kind words. Unfortunately I have zero interest in sending in my camera/lenses and I have zero interest in going back and forth with Ricoh with this. I've been there before with a camera that simply has a not so good AF system and honestly the best solution to this is to sell my K1 and buy the K1II, if in fact the K1II has better AF. I have zero interest in an upgrade as well. I prefer a fresh brand new camera.

I'll think about your suggestion but unless Ricoh will provide me with a loaner then I might send it back for repair. From what I've been told it can take a long time for me to get the camera back, and I don't want to do that

 

[left eye]

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

 

[Batdude]

1. left eye wrote:

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

--
Roger

There are already other threads and I put some samples, and if you search some other older threads from other posters you will see. I'm not going to bother posting more photos because I will get the same exact responses I (as well as other hundreds more) used to get when we would show it and talk about it when many of us were using the Nikon D7000 which was notorious in the unreliable AF department

The only answers we get in this situations is that we don't know how to shoot or to send the camera in for repair/fine tune etc etc. These same kind of talks were endless back in those days and people would send their camera in to Nikon and the problem never went away. The solution to all that nonsense was the D7100 and the problem simply went away after that. Hopefully the K1II will have a more accurate and reliable AF. That's all I have to say about that.

Many many months ago I processed some K-1 raws linked to by a member on this forum. They were tests at different focal lengths and f-stops.

What I noticed was some of the shots had 'doubling' of detail. They noticed it also, our conclusion was that it looked to be the fault of the IBIS, jumping a few pixels mid-exposure when it shouldn't.

For the record I did get a lot of good photos too, but the problem is that I'm not moving and I'm shooting still things, and some photos look bad as if I shook the camera.

Or the IBIS shook.

I know that you have to wait until the IBIS 'hand' icon lights up before taking a shot - until the IBIS has settled. When outdoors with distractions, grabbing shots, it's tempting just to fire too quickly.

What if IBIS is turned OFF and you still see weird stuff like that? What causes that?

I know it, Ricoh knows it, and everybody here know it so no point in me continuing talking about that. I'm tired of it. If there are K1 owners that have a perfect camera then they are fortunate and I'm happy for them because the K1 IQ is pretty awesome.

I've never been 100% satisfied with the IBIS on my K-5, sometime the sides of the frame seem blurred as if rotated or just way off the focal plane.

 

[left eye]

1. left eye wrote:

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

--
Roger

There are already other threads and I put some samples, and if you search some other older threads from other posters you will see. I'm not going to bother posting more photos because I will get the same exact responses I (as well as other hundreds more) used to get when we would show it and talk about it when many of us were using the Nikon D7000 which was notorious in the unreliable AF department

The only answers we get in this situations is that we don't know how to shoot or to send the camera in for repair/fine tune etc etc. These same kind of talks were endless back in those days and people would send their camera in to Nikon and the problem never went away. The solution to all that nonsense was the D7100 and the problem simply went away after that. Hopefully the K1II will have a more accurate and reliable AF. That's all I have to say about that.

Many many months ago I processed some K-1 raws linked to by a member on this forum. They were tests at different focal lengths and f-stops.

What I noticed was some of the shots had 'doubling' of detail. They noticed it also, our conclusion was that it looked to be the fault of the IBIS, jumping a few pixels mid-exposure when it shouldn't.

For the record I did get a lot of good photos too, but the problem is that I'm not moving and I'm shooting still things, and some photos look bad as if I shook the camera.

Or the IBIS shook.

I know that you have to wait until the IBIS 'hand' icon lights up before taking a shot - until the IBIS has settled. When outdoors with distractions, grabbing shots, it's tempting just to fire too quickly.

What if IBIS is turned OFF and you still see weird stuff like that? What causes that?

As has been 'explored' in many forums, Fuji, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, even to questioning in medium format; when IBIS is off, the sensor is still floating, and the IBIS actuators are still actually on, taking power, but not compensating for motion. The question here is how solid can the sensor be held in this 'still' floating state.

Mostly all seems to be ok when IBIS is off, the sensor is held still enough, mostly.

When IBIS is on and you are shooting at more than 1/FL*2 second, but you occasionally notice blur or doubling to the image, try the next few bright daylight shoots with IBIS off.

I know it, Ricoh knows it, and everybody here know it so no point in me continuing talking about that. I'm tired of it. If there are K1 owners that have a perfect camera then they are fortunate and I'm happy for them because the K1 IQ is pretty awesome.

I've never been 100% satisfied with the IBIS on my K-5, sometime the sides of the frame seem blurred as if rotated or just way off the focal plane.

 

[TomWret]

Batdude, putting your excellent Talent aside I love sharpness and look of the K-1, so real.

Gotta me one, Tom W(ret)

 

[Batdude]

1. left eye wrote:

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

--
Roger

There are already other threads and I put some samples, and if you search some other older threads from other posters you will see. I'm not going to bother posting more photos because I will get the same exact responses I (as well as other hundreds more) used to get when we would show it and talk about it when many of us were using the Nikon D7000 which was notorious in the unreliable AF department

The only answers we get in this situations is that we don't know how to shoot or to send the camera in for repair/fine tune etc etc. These same kind of talks were endless back in those days and people would send their camera in to Nikon and the problem never went away. The solution to all that nonsense was the D7100 and the problem simply went away after that. Hopefully the K1II will have a more accurate and reliable AF. That's all I have to say about that.

Many many months ago I processed some K-1 raws linked to by a member on this forum. They were tests at different focal lengths and f-stops.

What I noticed was some of the shots had 'doubling' of detail. They noticed it also, our conclusion was that it looked to be the fault of the IBIS, jumping a few pixels mid-exposure when it shouldn't.

For the record I did get a lot of good photos too, but the problem is that I'm not moving and I'm shooting still things, and some photos look bad as if I shook the camera.

Or the IBIS shook.

I know that you have to wait until the IBIS 'hand' icon lights up before taking a shot - until the IBIS has settled. When outdoors with distractions, grabbing shots, it's tempting just to fire too quickly.

What if IBIS is turned OFF and you still see weird stuff like that? What causes that?

As has been 'explored' in many forums, Fuji, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, even to questioning in medium format; when IBIS is off, the sensor is still floating, and the IBIS actuators are still actually on, taking power, but not compensating for motion. The question here is how solid can the sensor be held in this 'still' floating state.

Are you saying that this is a known issue that also happens in those other systems you just mentioned? This is the first time I buy a camera with IBIS and I'm no expert on the subject, and this is also the first time I start seeing weird and bad looking photos like that. Do sony or Olympus shooters also get that blur effect?

What I'm trying to say is that if this is "normal" in cameras that have IBIS then I simply have no other choice to live with it. I'll have to do a little more research and ask in other forums as well.

Mostly all seems to be ok when IBIS is off, the sensor is held still enough, mostly.

When IBIS is on and you are shooting at more than 1/FL*2 second, but you occasionally notice blur or doubling to the image, try the next few bright daylight shoots with IBIS off.

I know it, Ricoh knows it, and everybody here know it so no point in me continuing talking about that. I'm tired of it. If there are K1 owners that have a perfect camera then they are fortunate and I'm happy for them because the K1 IQ is pretty awesome.

I've never been 100% satisfied with the IBIS on my K-5, sometime the sides of the frame seem blurred as if rotated or just way off the focal plane.

 

[Batdude]

Batdude, putting your excellent Talent aside I love sharpness and look of the K-1, so real.

Gotta me one, Tom W(ret)

--
...a bad picture is like a missed putt, it's never your fault.
http://photographybythomaswhitehurst.zenfolio.com

The K1 is capable of producing very pleasant and sharp images indeed. IMHO not all cameras have this qualities and every camera manufacturer puts their own secret sauce in their image processing and from all the cameras I have used pentax has become one of my favorites.

 

[Batdude]

1. left eye wrote:

How about some photos of when the focus isn’t “working”? It would be interesting to see.

--
Roger

There are already other threads and I put some samples, and if you search some other older threads from other posters you will see. I'm not going to bother posting more photos because I will get the same exact responses I (as well as other hundreds more) used to get when we would show it and talk about it when many of us were using the Nikon D7000 which was notorious in the unreliable AF department

The only answers we get in this situations is that we don't know how to shoot or to send the camera in for repair/fine tune etc etc. These same kind of talks were endless back in those days and people would send their camera in to Nikon and the problem never went away. The solution to all that nonsense was the D7100 and the problem simply went away after that. Hopefully the K1II will have a more accurate and reliable AF. That's all I have to say about that.

Many many months ago I processed some K-1 raws linked to by a member on this forum. They were tests at different focal lengths and f-stops.

What I noticed was some of the shots had 'doubling' of detail. They noticed it also, our conclusion was that it looked to be the fault of the IBIS, jumping a few pixels mid-exposure when it shouldn't.

For the record I did get a lot of good photos too, but the problem is that I'm not moving and I'm shooting still things, and some photos look bad as if I shook the camera.

Or the IBIS shook.

I know that you have to wait until the IBIS 'hand' icon lights up before taking a shot - until the IBIS has settled. When outdoors with distractions, grabbing shots, it's tempting just to fire too quickly.

What if IBIS is turned OFF and you still see weird stuff like that? What causes that?

As has been 'explored' in many forums, Fuji, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, even to questioning in medium format; when IBIS is off, the sensor is still floating, and the IBIS actuators are still actually on, taking power, but not compensating for motion. The question here is how solid can the sensor be held in this 'still' floating state.

Are you saying that this is a known issue that also happens in those other systems you just mentioned? This is the first time I buy a camera with IBIS and I'm no expert on the subject, and this is also the first time I start seeing weird and bad looking photos like that. Do sony or Olympus shooters also get that blur effect?

What I'm trying to say is that if this is "normal" in cameras that have IBIS then I simply have no other choice to live with it. I'll have to do a little more research and ask in other forums as well.

Ha! I found one picture that I took months ago, it was one of the first photos I took. I will say that at the time I took this photo and looked at it I didn't say anything about this because I thought that "I" had done something wrong so I didn't think much about it but after several months that I have been shooting more here and there in all sort of situations I have indeed seen this issue more and more with random photos.

Here is a photo of a huge rock and (to my eyes) something is wrong with this photo and I do remember focusing right on the rock with focus confirmation. I honestly don't remember is IBIS was off but I think I'm pretty sure IBIS was turned off because I had it at that shutter speed. There weren't any strong winds and I did take my time to take that shot.

If you pay attention to it there is some kind of motion blur. The reason why I know is because I know how bloody sharp my photos are taken with a Fuji camera, and I have really good stable hands and I have taken thousands of photos, plus I had just gotten this new camera with a 36FF sensor which is supposed to be superior than any existing Fuji camera and honestly I was not very impressed when I took this shot. Like I said, at first I wasn't thinking too much about all this and I was mainly checking color output. Again, this photo at that shutter speed should have looked better.

After you start seeing stuff like this quite often, it honestly starts to become really annoying and disappointing. Let me know what you think and is this something Ricoh can fix if I decide to send my camera in for repair.

Mostly all seems to be ok when IBIS is off, the sensor is held still enough, mostly.

When IBIS is on and you are shooting at more than 1/FL*2 second, but you occasionally notice blur or doubling to the image, try the next few bright daylight shoots with IBIS off.

I know it, Ricoh knows it, and everybody here know it so no point in me continuing talking about that. I'm tired of it. If there are K1 owners that have a perfect camera then they are fortunate and I'm happy for them because the K1 IQ is pretty awesome.

I've never been 100% satisfied with the IBIS on my K-5, sometime the sides of the frame seem blurred as if rotated or just way off the focal plane.